In his 26-minute presentation, Paul Ashley Head of Applications, Lloyds Development Capital Limited, explained how the company has successfully implemented a digitised approach to business partnering, financial forecasting, and the private equity valuation process. 

To be successful, organisations need to have good communication between functions. Although interconnected, they usually have different objectives. There are some best practices that organisations should keep in mind to have a smooth cooperation between departments.

The increasing levels of business partnering and integration, new opportunities in functions outside finance are becoming possible. Having personally witnessed some successful cross-functional movements by FP&A professionals, I am a strong believer in the capability as well as the value of such movements. 

Is FP&A a generalist or a specialist? I believe it can be a mixture of both.

New technologies are reducing back-office workload, giving FP&A the opportunity to be more involved in running the business. Degree of this involvement depends on the capacity of FP&A team and the organisational culture. 

Many Finance professionals have an incorrect perception of the word “insight” but here is a simple way to validate if you provide insight or “just” data. Ask yourself, what decision a business can make based on the data you have provided? Insight is something valuable and not yet known by the business, but when known the business uses it to make decisions that are data-driven.